


Dreaming of the Rockies

by queuebird



Series: AEDWQ 2020 [3]
Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Western, M/M, Sad Ending, Slang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:54:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23956429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queuebird/pseuds/queuebird
Summary: A gambler has a plan for a sharpshooter.
Relationships: Arthur/Eames (Inception)
Series: AEDWQ 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1717273
Comments: 11
Kudos: 11





	Dreaming of the Rockies

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks [Citrine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/citrinesunset) for the beta!

“Ari,” Eames says, nursing a whiskey at the bar. “What do you know bout that man there, in the corner?”

“Him?” Ari sets down the bottle an leans against the counter. “That’s Arthur. New to Rose Creek. Wanderer, like yourself, best I can judge. Rumor’s that he’s a boss sharpshooter. I dunno, all he does is sit there an stare out the window.”

“Does he?” Eames considers him. “Think I’m gonna marry him.”

Ari laughs. “Marry him?”

“Mm-hmm. Got it all figured out, actually. Gonna woo his socks off, right here. We’ll wander town to town together. Once we get sick a that, we’ll settle down in a cabin in the Rockies so no un’ll bother us. An we’ll be happy.”

Ari just smiles. “Best a luck with that.”

Eames goes up to him. “Arthur,” he says.

“Mr. Eames.” He sounds unsurprised.

“You heard a me?”

“Hard not to hear a the Brit who’s never lost a game a poker.”

“You flatter me, darling. Let me buy you a drink.”

Eames doesn’t woo Arthur’s socks off, but he does hold his attention long enough that they fuck in the evening an share a smoke afterwards.

Arthur’s there in the morning, cleaning his gun, so naturally Eames asks bout it.

Arthur teaches him---holding, aiming, firing. He shoots at a dot on the horizon an hits it square on. Eames manages to knock some cans off stumps.

Eames teaches him---card games, poker cheats, magic tricks. Late nights by the fire, Eames’s worn, familiar deck in Arthur’s worn, familiar hands, sparks flickering round em.

They don’t wander town to town together---they end up liking Rose Creek too damn much. Eames thinks it’s alright, plans change, though he’s still dreamin a that cabin in the Rockies.

But---

Turns out Eames’s habits made him unpopular with some folks. An Arthur killed the wrong person a couple years back. An maybe there was good reason they were always wanderers.

They don’t get much warning. They step out Ari’s saloon, an the air explodes round em. An Arthur yells. An Eames can’t save him.

An he stops gambling. An he leaves Rose Creek. An he wanders. An he shoots at shadows. An he dreams a the Rockies. 

But nothing ever brings back his darling.

...

_The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men_

_Gang aft agley,_

_An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,_

_For promis’d joy!_

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](https://queuebird.tumblr.com/)


End file.
